Tema Education Directorate battles with students over office location

Tema, May 06, GNA - Tema Metropolitan Education Directorate is battling with the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and past and current students of the Aggrey Road Junior High School over converting some of the school's classrooms into temporal offices for the Directorate. The Directorate, which is currently housed by the Tema Development Corporation (TDC), was among 11 Government establishments served with ejection notice by the TDC to vacate its premises by May 31 this year. The other establishments are the New Times Corporation, Rent Control Department, Land Title Registry, Judicial Service, Department of Social Welfare and the Survey Department.

The rest are the Department of Co-operatives, Statistical Service Department, Department of Culture and Community Development. Briefing the Ghana News Agency in an interview on Monday, Mrs Lucy Kwapong, out-going Metropolitan Education Director said, the PTA and the students have issued a series of threats to the Directorate to rescind its decision to use some of the school's classrooms. Mrs Kwapong explained that enrolment in the school, which runs two sets of JHS was far below the maximum required enrolment even though it has very spacious classrooms.

She said with barely a month notice to vacate the TDC premises, the Directorate has no option but to merge the two JHS in order to leave some of classrooms empty to be used as temporal offices. According to her, even though the Directorate had explained the situation to the parents and students, she suspected that some of the teachers were fuelling the "battle" for fear of being transferred after merging two separate classes.

In reaction of the transfer issue, Mrs Kwapong assured the teachers that they would be transferred within the metropolis when it became necessary and promised the students and parents that the decision would not affect academic work.

She debunked rumours that, some of students would be sent to other schools stressing that the school would co-exist with the Directorate on the same premises. "This is not the first time classes have been joined," she added.

The out-going Director noted that, series of meetings between the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), Tema Traditional Council (TTC), the Directorate and other stakeholders agreed on the use of the classrooms as offices. The Directorate is expected to use the premises until the TMA gather enough funds to construct a proposed office structure on the Directorate's land situated near White House, Community Two. Meanwhile, majority of the establishments facing the ejection are still looking for alternative offices in the Metropolis, one year after receiving the quit notice.